Mrs. C

Marion Ross never wanted to write an autobiography, but, with her 90th birthday coming later this year, she's finally succumbed.  Thus we have My Days: Happy and Otherwise.

It's yet another actor's memoir, but her story is different.  Usually they spend a few years in the wilderness before becoming stars, but Ross didn't make it until she was well into her 40s.  Generally, if you don't make it big by your early 30s (especially true for women), you're not going to make it.

But she got cast in Happy Days, which turned out to be a gigantic hit, and eventually America came to love Mrs. Cunningham.  I expect most people will buy this book to find out about the show.  But due to the arc of her life, it's half over before we get there.  Happily, she's got a fascinating story.

Growing up in Minnesota, she dreamed of making it big.  Not in the movies, by the way, but on Broadway.  So it's ironic her family moved to San Diego, just a stone's throw from Hollywood.

She studied acting with various teachers and performed in many plays.  And, moving to Los Angeles, she could see movies and TV were where the action was, and eventually got put under contract by Paramount.  She was cute, but no raving beauty, which is the kind of thing that limits a career in show biz.

So though she worked regularly, she did mostly bit parts in movie and TV (and even got a role on Broadway).  Meanwhile, she married a fellow actor.  Oddly (for the time, certainly), she was the one with all the ambition while he seemingly had none, so she was the earner.  I guess the husband did have one ambition--he liked to drink.  They had two kids, but called it quits after 18 years of marriage.

By the time Ross hit 40, she figured she'd always be a nobody.  But then she got a part in the gigantic hit  Airport--a nonspeaking role as a passenger which her friends said she shouldn't even audition for--which led to a meeting with a casting agent who put her up for a pilot called New Family In Town. Created by Garry Marshall, it was set in the 1950s. She played Ron Howard's mom.

The pilot didn't sell.  The networks figured no one wanted a show set in the 50s. Ross understood that was how things usually worked out.  The pilot was burned off as an episode of Love, American Style entitled "Love and the Television Set." (Later in syndication it became known as "Love and the Happy Days.")

Then the 50s hit it big.  Ron Howard starred in the blockbuster American Graffiti (cast because George Lucas saw him in the TV pilot).  Grease became a huge hit on Broadway.  Now ABC thought maybe they should dust off that Garry Marshall show.

There was no guarantee Marion would be brought along, but she, Ron Howard (of course) and Anson Williams as the best friend made it to the new version.  They were joined by a number of others, including Tom Bosley as Mr. Cunningham, the husband of Marion (both her name and her character's) and Henry Winkler as Fonzie.

The show did well, and when Fonzie became a breakout character, it hit #1.  While Winkler got most of the attention, a lot of people started noticing, and loving, Marion Cunningham.  She was the heart of the Cunningham family, and also had a special relationship with Fonzie--she was the only one who called him by his first name, Arthur.

Happy Days ran 11 seasons and around the time Ross was 50 or so, she finally had a steady enough income that she could enjoy a little extravagance.

Ross spends many pages on Happy Days.  For instance, while they were happy they had a hit, there was some grumbling about Fonzie grabbing all the attention.  No grumbling about Henry Winkler, whom they loved, but about the character.

In general, it was a loving cast (as opposed to Marshall's other huge hit, Laverne & Shirley, where everyone fought).  At first, however, Ross had trouble with TV-husband Bosley, who was difficult and demanding. Only later did she discover during those early years his wife was slowly dying of a brain tumor.

The book also features short interviews with many of Ross's castmates, as well as her children.  And she does talk about her career after Happy Days--after all, she's done over a hundred roles since--but she knows what she'll be remembered for.

While she was doing the show, she sometimes felt guilty. Here she was, playing the perfect mom on TV, while trying to raise to kids by herself but being absent most of the time.  Regardless, she was--and still is--America's Mom.